REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON

THE PINNACLE OF SUFFERING

June 26, 1977
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

Certainly no one enjoys suffering or tribulation because there is no
happiness or joy in it. People want to avoid suffering because it is
an abnormal state of being and it represents reversal instead of
progress. Our individual minds reflect God, the center of the
universe, who must also dislike suffering. If God, the center and
master of the universe, is in a position to suffer then all the other
elements of creation that belong to God have the same destiny.

I represent the Unification Church, and if I am in a position of
suffering then the members of our church cannot avoid the same fate.
As the leader, my own suffering is for the public purpose and is
inherited by everyone who belongs to the same organization. The same
principle applies to a family, society, nation, and the world. Though
the president of a country may not be in a position of suffering,
there may people in his country who are deprived. The president of a
nation is responsible for the individual or group that is suffering,
whether he is directly or indirectly involved. He should work to
eliminate the suffering of the people.

Any organization, family, society, or nation is composed of a subject,
or leader, and followers. Let us use the family as an example. A
member of a family may be burdened with tribulation which does not
directly involve the head of the home. Therefore, the head of the
household is in a position to alleviate his relative's suffering. Some
of you in the church may be experiencing great struggle, yet I am not
directly involved in your individual situation. That means that I can
work to alleviate your suffering.

We can extend this concept to the ultimate level; God may not be in a
position of immediate suffering, but He is in a position to liberate
the suffering of all people under Him. If God Himself is in a position
of suffering, however, then the situation is entirely different. Who
will lift away the suffering of God?

For God to liberate man,
God himself must be liberated

Unless someone has experienced God's suffering in his own life, he
cannot liberate God. God is in a position to have happiness, not
suffering. If there are people who are suffering, there is always hope
that their tribulation can be lifted, but only as long as God is in a
position to exercise His power of liberation. The most important point
I want to make this morning is that, at all cost, God must not be put
in a position of suffering but must be freed from it.

What is the pinnacle of God's suffering? There is no question that the
fall of God's children, Adam and Eve, is the focal point of His
difficulty. Their separation from God was a very pitiful and tearful
situation. God is the Father of mankind and Adam and Eve are His first
children, the ancestors of fallen mankind; when these children fell,
the consequences had a direct impact on God and caused Him incredible
suffering. Because the fall was a physical act, God lost His
connection with the physical world, and in addition, He endured
suffering of the mind and suffering of the soul. The seeds of man's
suffering throughout history were planted by Adam and Eve being
corrupted at the beginning of human history, and from that time on
suffering was handed down from generation to generation.

The fall of man brought three consequences: God lost His children and
He lost His temple, because man was to be the dwelling place of God.
Furthermore, God lost the only home in which His love could be
manifested; Adam and Eve were not only to be the children of God but
to be the recipients of His love. With the fall of man God lost
everything He had hoped for in the love of His own children, the love
between husband and wife, and the love between parent and child.

The ironic thing is that Adam and Eve did not deeply understand how
much pain and suffering their actions were actually causing God, and
since then no one has ever understood God's heart of suffering at the
moment of Adam and Eve's fall. The fall was the pinnacle of the
suffering of God. The destruction which occurred in the garden of Eden
must be indemnified, and man must be restored to his original state by
his going over the apex of God's suffering.

How can fallen man feel God's heart if Adam and Eve could not feel it?
In listening to a sermon like this you may feel sympathetic with God
but you still do not feel His sorrow down to your bone. Let us bring
this situation down to the personal level. Suppose a woman has lost
her parents, husband, and children in a tragic accident. Even though
she has been living in the fallen world all her life and therefore has
seen and experienced many types of evil and sin, the tragedy of her
loss still causes her unbearable suffering. How much more pain and
shock God must feel, being completely pure and never having
experienced any sin, suffering, or crime before the fall of Adam and
Eve.

Today many people commit suicide. Do you think God's suffering at the
moment of Adam and Eve's fall was greater than the despair people feel
when they commit suicide? God's suffering is the only true suffering.
No one but God is truly entitled to use the word "suffering." We may
experience some tragedy, yet as time passes the pain and grief will be
eased. However, that is not true spiritually, and the passing of time
will never ease God's heart.

One thousand years is just one moment to God,' who has no concept of
time, and the pain of man's fall has never gone from God's mind and
heart. Could God ever decide, "I don't want to suffer any more," and
just cast His suffering out of His heart? Even though He is almighty,
could He ever change His situation? God's love is absolute, unique,
and unchanging, and it is impossible that He could alter His heart and
decide not to suffer.

If you lost your loved ones, you could never erase from your mind the
memory of them or the pain of their departure. It is there to stay. It
is the same with God. There is no way God can remove Himself from the
tragedy of the fall unless the fundamental cause is eliminated. God
cannot say, "I don't want to be part of this suffering any more."

God's entire hope has been concentrated
on the momentous day of resurrection

God's experience of the worst kind of suffering and tribulation was
the beginning point of His restoration work, and He only finds hope in
one exhilarating word: resurrection. Resurrection has the deepest
meaning to God because through that path mankind is able to return to
the original state when Adam and Eve were brand new and without
sorrow, sin, and crime. Since the fall was the pinnacle of God's
suffering, the reunion of God and His children will certainly be the
pinnacle of His joy.

God's heart will burst with emotion and His eyes fill with tears of
joy at the moment that He is liberated from His suffering and sorrow.
God's hope and desire and entire restoration work have been
concentrated on that one momentous day of resurrection.

What must be man's desire? To liberate God's suffering we must
experience greater pain than God's own pain at the fall. Our desire
and hope is only to go over the apex of suffering and meet a liberated
God in the realm of resurrection. Religion is the road which will take
you to the pinnacle of suffering and beyond to the realm of
resurrection. Man's first step is to conquer and liquidate the
suffering of God.

I am not talking about only your own individual resurrection but the
resurrection of your brothers and sisters as well, because the fall
occurred with more than one person. You must go over the pinnacle of
suffering together because the conquest of suffering will occur in the
same atmosphere as did the fall of man. Therefore, you will experience
the same situation as Adam and Eve before the fall, and must go over
the hill of suffering instead.

Adam and Eve's relationship was far more than that of brother and
sister. They were in the position to become husband and wife with the
blessing of God, but instead they became husband and wife in the
satanic way after the fall. For this reason you have to go over the
hill of the fallen world and into the realm of the resurrected love of
a true husband and wife. First you must restore yourselves into a
position of vertical love with God and upon that condition you will be
brought together in the horizontal relationship of husband and wife.
Together, centered upon God as husband and wife, you will create the
trinity that will become the base of four positions as you give birth
to children. This is the process of resurrection. There is no other
way to surmount the pinnacle of suffering and liberate God.

Men and women long for the day they will become husbands and wives,
and for the rest of their lives they will remember it as a most
momentous day. If they form a happy marriage, it is a rare couple that
forgets their anniversary. Every cell and fiber of your body
concentrates on that one goal: the day of the fulfillment of love as
husband and wife. That is a day you can really experience truly
ecstatic joy, and every inch of your body wants to be uplifted by the
joy of that day. Nothing is more precious than the fulfillment of that
love.

Have you ever thought about how to concentrate your whole being to
manifest love in a most dramatic way? When you put everything into
crystallizing your love then your whole system works toward that one
fulfillment. You can only be melted into the bosom of love when you
find that day of becoming husband and wife. Nothing else in the world
can be more precious than the true manifestation of love. God has
given marriage as the apex and fulfillment of your love.

That love is the purpose of life and you will definitely achieve it
although there are negative forces which say that such joy and love
are illusions. That kind of conviction shatters man's entire hope and
desire. However, no power can destroy that hope and desire in man, no
matter how negative the atmosphere. Even in the fallen world you still
have this power to love and be loved.

I want you to understand that the pure, almighty God has been yearning
for the day of reunion with His true children. There is no way to
express or compare the excitement and joy God will experience on the
day of that reunion. God's whole being is love, and there is not one
moment in which God can forget His children. His entire energy is
moving in the one direction of meeting His true children and no power
under the sun could ever eliminate this desire from His heart. When
God concentrates upon His love, a millennium has no length and ten
thousand years has no significance. The heart of God will not change
with the passage of time but instead only intensifies in desiring the
day which brings the fulfillment of His love.

God's children will go beyond
the pinnacle of His suffering

The people who can become the children of God are the ones who can go
beyond the pinnacle of suffering and understand God's heart. The only
man in all of history who understood God's heart was Jesus. Jesus knew
God's suffering heart and discovered how to liberate Him. Even though
a multitude of men had lived and worshipped God before him, Jesus
could say, "I am the only begotten son of God." Also we read in the
Bible that Jesus said, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me. I
and the Father are one." Jesus could utter such things because he was
centered upon the love of God. He was saying that in love, he and God
were one. It is a strange concept to consider that "you are in me and
I am in you." It is possible only when we speak of love. Jesus
understood that, and he had the conviction that he was dwelling in the
love of God.

Jesus also said, "I am the bridegroom and you are the bride," putting
himself in the bridegroom's position and all mankind in the bride's
position. The ultimate goal for a woman is to be a bride, and the
ultimate goal for a man is to be a bridegroom. Love is the key word
needed to speak of this relationship, which is the culmination of your
life. In speaking of a bridegroom and bride Jesus was not referring to
the fallen tradition begun by Adam and Eve. He knew that we must go
over the pinnacle of suffering and become heavenly bridegrooms and
brides.

Until the time of Jesus God's heart contained only suffering, but when
Jesus proclaimed that he was one with God and was His only begotten
son, God felt as though He had received an electric shock. Jesus'
words were the most revolutionary words ever spoken. Jesus was the one
person in history who was able to give God this type of shock. Jesus
had the key to solving the entire, fundamental human problem of the
severed relationship of love between God and man. He was really the
Messiah of love, who could conquer the apex of God's suffering and go
beyond to the realm of resurrection. If Jesus' mission could have been
fulfilled on earth then God certainly could have declared to the
world, "My will is done."

Could God and Jesus ever have been separated? Jesus' goal and the goal
of history was to conquer God's suffering and move into the realm of
total resurrection. God saw the possibility of Jesus fulfilling that
goal; however, God was never able to declare the fulfillment of His
desire. That day did not occur because the rebellious people crucified
Jesus, destroying the opportunity for the fulfillment of God's will.

God's only remaining hope

Christians think that Jesus came to die for their sake. How can God
feel when He hears this kind of remark from man? Was the establishment
of Christianity the fulfillment of God's will? Could all the
Christians of the world together be in a position to comfort the
sorrow of God? Not at all. If Christians want to comfort God they must
not only become like Jesus but also go over the pinnacle of the
suffering of God. Then they would be able to say, "God, in me You see
Your only begotten son." There is not one who is like that, and many
Christians are only trying to secure a place for themselves in heaven.
That is not the way God can be comforted.

God knew and Jesus knew that no one else could comfort God nor surpass
the mission of Jesus. That is why Jesus said he would come again. What
does that mean? It means that Jesus' job was left undone and that he
must come again in order to conquer the pinnacle of suffering. Jesus
held the key to the fulfillment of God's will, yet because of the
faithlessness of the people that possibility was not fulfilled. This
means that mankind must go over one more hill with the Lord of the
Second Advent.

Only three major events in history are of importance to God. The first
was His creation, the garden of Eden. The second was the mission of
Jesus and the possibility of his fulfillment. Since that was not
accomplished, God has looked forward to the third event, which is the
day of the Lord of the Second Advent, and the final consummation of
His hope. That day will be the greatest day since the day of Adam and
Eve and Jesus.

The garden of Eden and Jesus' mission on earth are in the past. Of the
three events, God's only remaining hope is the day of the Second
Advent. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Christians are looking
for the one day of the coming of the Lord. Will God be really angry at
mankind for the first time and destroy the earth on that day, or will
God be able to fulfill His love at that time?

Even children who were pure and unstained, like Adam and Eve before
the fall, were not easy for God to guide. But today, after the fall of
man, the people God has had to work with are really trash. In the
sight of God fallen man is so ugly and dirty and distorted that He
does not even want to look at them. That is the fall of man. Women
want to make themselves beautiful by wearing makeup and jewelry and
flashy clothing. But God does not see any of that. He sees instead the
true internal man and woman, which is ugly and distorted.

What is the Unification Church trying to do? You may say, "Oh, we are
working to restore America and bring resurrection to this nation." But
what you actually mean is, "Unless we restore the true love of God,
then America and the world have no purpose." The purpose of the
Unification Church is to liberate God from His suffering. That is the
ideology of both God and Jesus.

We in the Unification Church follow a most difficult way of life
because our goal is to place ourselves on the pinnacle of suffering
and therefore be able to say before the world, "God, I am Your
begotten son, Your begotten daughter." You must have that dignity and
that confidence as a child of God. Have you realized that this is our
goal and that you must work at it?

If you say that God is your Father
then you must take responsibility for Him

Why is the Unification Church primarily a gathering place of single
men and women? People who marry in the worldly way have made no
condition for their marriage to be recognized by God. Each person must
receive the blessing from God. For this reason God has hope in single
men and women who can be trained and guided to become true sons and
daughters of God before they marry.

If someone demanded to hear whether you knew God, what would your
answer be? Would you say, "Well, God seems to exist," or, "What do you
mean? I am His child! " Even at the point of your death could you
still testify that you are sons and daughters of God? Have you ever
doubted that your natural parents were your own father and mother? In
an immoral nation like America, how do you know who your father is?

You have no doubt about who your parents are and God must become more
real to you than your own natural parents. Then you can say, "I am His
child," Is God that real to you? Your answer must come from your
entire being united together; otherwise your mind will be going in one
direction, and your body in another, and your heart somewhere else. If
your commitment and confidence are strong, then even if the sun rises
in the west you can say, "I know that God is my Father."

Your heavenly Father is not mediocre, but is almighty and all perfect.
When you say He is your God, you must take responsibility for that
relationship. Why aren't the sons and daughters of God afraid to be
criticized, persecuted or even to die for God? The reason is very
simple; it is because God, their Father, is supreme in the universe,
and they know that dying for His sake is not to be feared but instead
would be a most glorious expression of their love.

Jesus had not one fear about dying on the cross. He thought of only
one thing, that he was dying to conquer the suffering of God. His only
concern was God's mission, not his own life. At the moment of his
death, the noble heart of Jesus was absolutely unselfish. That was the
peak of unselfish dedication, and resurrection was possible because of
his heart.

We can conclude that as long as Christians emulate the unselfish heart
of Jesus, Christianity can prosper. It is impossible to have a true
relationship with God, even if you call yourself a Christian, unless
you follow the example of Jesus' heart. We can also conclude that the
Lord of the Second Advent must come with the same heart and love for
God. Upon that foundation of love the Lord can restore the individual,
society, nation and world.

Following a doctrine does not
qualify anyone as a child of God

God will use the religion that inherits the heart of Jesus to build
the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth in the final day. Regardless of
their pride in their accomplishments, Christians today do not have the
same concern that Jesus had for the heart of God. They do not talk
about the consummation of God's will or the Kingdom of God here on
earth. Great churches with plush carpets do not impress God at all. If
there is a man who is not recognized as being Christian but who has
the same heart as God and Jesus that man will be used to fulfill God's
final dispensation.

Suppose the worst communist dictator, Kim 11 Sung of North Korea,
suddenly died one day. Even though millions of people would be
relieved at his death one man would still shed tears. Even knowing his
father was a vicious dictator, the son of Kim 11 Sung would grieve at
his death. The relationship between father and son is a unique and
special one, transcending all reason.

Religions around the world are convinced that God is smiling and happy
from morning to night, enjoying His power. I come from the humble
nation of Korea and have proclaimed, "God, my Father, is suffering and
His heart is broken. I must liberate Him from His suffering." My
prayer is that God will give me a chance to do this. That is my
position now.

The entire world may call me a heretic, but only the person who
understands the heart of God is qualified to be His true child. The
responsibility and purpose of the Unification Church is not the
pursuit of glory or power but the complete liberation of God, which
neither Adam and Eve nor Jesus were able to accomplish. You and I are
gathered together to liberate the suffering heart of God.

We may face more criticism and persecution than Jesus did, yet nothing
will stop us. We expect opposition, but in spite of opposition we can
go over the individual, family, society, national and world peaks of
suffering. We will stand on the pinnacle of the suffering of God and
go beyond, to the realm of resurrection.

We are looking for the one momentous day when God can declare, "I am
free of sorrow. My broken heart has been healed by my loving
children." You must have the confidence that you will be the begotten
sons and daughters of God, who will inherit the heart of Jesus and go
over the pinnacle of the suffering of God and liberate Him. You must
feel, "God and I are one; I am in the Father and the Father in me and
nothing can separate me from God. Even if the entire world rises
against me I will not be stopped."

Our goal is so great that nothing can be compared to its value.
Therefore, we shall overcome any power trying to block our way and
still continue on. You must have the confidence that you were born
solely for this purpose and are destined to live and die for this
purpose. Have you ever thought, "If I cannot accomplish this mission
in my own lifetime, I will leave a legacy for my children because with
God there will be a day of resurrection"? Jesus died without
fulfilling his mission in his own lifetime, but that does not mean
that Jesus failed. He was resurrected and left a spiritual legacy
which affected all mankind.

Men and women look forward to becoming husbands and wives, the
culmination of the horizontal level of life. Jesus, too, looked
forward to meeting his own bride. God has been looking forward to
meeting His children for the 2,000 years since Jesus was on earth. All
of humanity as well has been looking forward to that one momentous day
of hope. The Unification Church will celebrate that day. The color of
your skin, be it white, yellow, or black, does not matter. Only one
thing is important-your heart. This is the central point of our
ideology, and if you would become a true member you must deeply
understand this. Your goal is simply this, to become God's begotten
sons and daughters. After that you shall become God-centered husbands
and wives and restore the garden of Eden, the ideal of God. You are in
the position of Adam and Eve and you can begin the new heavenly
history. You will create the first history of God.

You must not bargain with heaven,
or look for the easy way

The people who do not want to inherit the suffering heart of God but
only want the blessing of the final day are like thieves. I know there
are members who have thought, "I thought there would be a chance to be
blessed after the Washington Monument Rally. I've already been in the
Church for three years, so why shouldn't I be blessed?" Are some of
you thinking like that? Once you know the broken heart of God, could
you ever think in this manner and still lift your face to Him? This is
not the way to put yourselves in the position of sons and daughters to
God.

The first qualification for the blessing is to become a begotten son
or daughter of God. You must realize and fulfill that. If your
commitment is so steadfast that you feel it in your bones then our
work will progress much faster. Many people try to find the easiest
ways and dodge the difficult jobs. Some people even bargain with
heaven, saying, "All right, God, I'll do this if You will give me
that." Do not bargain. It never works. You owe an incredible debt to
God yet you never speak about paying back all that you owe Him. If you
do not quite have the heart to meet the standard of God but have a
repentant heart, raise your hand. God will not criticize you but will
be moved and sympathetic with you.

Are you really a perfect member who meets God's standard 100% of the
time, or are you not yet perfect? Are you sincere, or are you phony?
Some of you are impostors, but even impostors do not want to be
treated like impostors. That in itself is dishonest. If you are an
impostor you should be treated as one.

The important thing is that the value of whatever job you do, even if
it seems trivial and menial, depends on your heart. Do you sell the
newspaper on the streets with the full realization that you are indeed
the son of God? "God, I am Your begotten son and I am selling
newspapers because I love You. The world may scorn me and criticize me
but I don't care. I am concerned with only one thing: to maintain the
absolute tradition and spirit of being Your true son."

The only thing I have to be proud of is the full realization that I am
God's son. My only desire is to leave this tradition with you. When I
look at Mother I do not see her as "my wife," but as God's loving
daughter and I know I must treat her with respect. If my thinking is
wrong then judge me; I welcome it. This is the ideology and position
of God and no power can condemn me.

When you realize that you are the sons and daughters of God, the
resurrection of your hearts can take place and your union with God can
be sealed. You will not be alone in this venture but will ultimately
need a spouse. Together you shall appear with one heart and one
tradition before God.

You were all born into a satanic lineage, and Satan has every right to
claim everything about you. But God can change you and you can be born
again. If you do not realize that you must be reborn, however, then
you cannot be in the position of true sons and daughters of God and
you are certainly not entitled to be here. No matter what calamity may
befall you, your body is the temple of God and no one can separate you
from your love for God and God from His love for you. You are His
begotten child and He is your Father. This is our religious way of
life. We are seeking to transform ourselves from contaminated vessels
into noble temples of God. I want you to know that you are a most
happy and proud group of people in the sight of God.

Persecution is my opportunity
to love God more profoundly

After I came to America, all types of accusation and slander were
directed at me. That does not matter because I have one single-minded
concern-my right to love God as God loves me. No one can alter this
privilege in the slightest degree. Furthermore, I am grateful for the
opportunity to be persecuted, because I have a better opportunity to
feel God's broken and accused heart. "God, I thank You for this.
Father, I thank You for the opposition 24 hours a day because then I
have 24 hours a day to love You more. Because of this experience, my
love for You is more profound."

We are constantly criticized, but God will use each occasion to
produce greater results for our work. For example, "brainwashing" has
been a point of attack. That issue has become stale, and the issue now
in the forefront is the allegation that I am an agent of the KCIA.
However, the man who was formerly chief of the KCIA for almost ten
years testified before a House subcommittee that he did not even hear
about me until he came to America in 1973! Even the Washington Post
reported what he said. People were waiting for him to say, "Yes,
Reverend Moon was my agent," but his testimony only revealed the
truth. I am not asking my. critics to apologize to me; I only want
them to be humble in the sight of God.

After the Washington Monument Rally last year I declared that until
June of this year we would encounter great tribulation and turmoil.
The month of June is almost over and I see the heavenly strategy
changing. Now the time has come to declare the truth to the world. The
world has been in darkness, but now the sun is rising. We can have the
confidence and the dignity of God and march fearlessly forward. We
cannot bend the dignity of the truth.

A poor image of me has been created throughout the years, and people
actually brainwashed themselves into thinking that I am a charlatan or
fraud. The honest, innocent minds of America have been poisoned by the
media. But now the time has come to let the world know the truth about
me and what I represent here in America. The American people are
righteous people, and eventually the tide of negativity will be
reversed and a different opinion of me shall be created.

This is heavenly strategy working. God wanted me to quickly become
well-known, whether in a negative or positive light. Unfortunately,
due to the media the negative accusations became known more quickly,
but now all we have to do is reverse the tide and present our true
image. The world is bored with bad news and criticism and is ready to
hear about some hope.

If you follow God's basic principle of heart you will achieve victory.
Your job is to become the begotten sons and daughters of God. You must
say before God, "Father, I am Your child. I shall marry in Your name
so that together with my mate I may become Your perfect temple,
fulfill Your love, and liberate Your sorrow in heaven and on earth."

We will say to God, "For the first time in history You have sons and
daughters who truly understand Your suffering. Heavenly Father, please
be comforted by us, because we understand Your broken heart. God, take
comfort and rest because Your sons and daughters are determined to
gratefully go over greater suffering than You have." That is our
prayer,

You can see how valuable and priceless an individual you are. Do not
demean your own value; you are precious in the sight of God. No matter
how miserable your way of life appears, your job is to uphold God's
dignity. Those who can say, "Now I have changed completely and am
following the direction of God," raise your hands. Now all you have to
say is, "God, trust me. Eventually my spouse and myself together will
go over the hill of suffering even greater than that of Jesus, who was
Your begotten son 2,000 years ago." If your faith is greater than
Jesus', then you will approach the Mount of Calvary and be in a
position to be crucified. But you do not have to be crucified. You can
conquer death and achieve resurrection as living sons and daughters.

Have you ever prayed, "God, give me the burden of America. I will bear
it alone now and later I will bear it with my spouse. Please give me
the worst and heaviest possible burden. This is my privilege." Please
raise your hands if you can pledge to God that you will never do
anything to harm or sever your heartistic relationship with Him.

When you determine in your heart and mind to give up your life for
God's purpose, then the hill is no longer in front of you. Nothing is
a deeper or heavier responsibility than that. You will never decline
with that determination, but will gain increasing confidence and
achieve ever greater victories in the days to come.

You should end this month of June with the new realization, "We are
Your begotten sons and daughters." Then the new month of July will
begin with new life and prosperity ahead of us. Those who are grateful
to God for this opportunity, pledge to God your 100% loyalty by
raising your hands. May God bless you. Thank you. Let us pray.